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"For the people who have watched me fight or haven't, it's always an exciting fight." - Lorenz Larkin
Lorenz Larkin is moving forward.
Whether it is literally in the cage toward his unfortunate opponent, in the rankings in search of even tougher competition, or leaving a controversial debut loss in the past, the UFC middleweight has his sights set on what's in front of him and ready to forget what's behind him. After a very successful couple years in Strikeforce and a head-turning rookie season inside the Octagon, "The Monsoon" is poised to make a lot of noise in 2014 with his fan-friendly fighting style, which Larkin showed off a more in your face version of at UFC Fight for the Troops 3.
"My expectations were to be more aggressive," asserts Larkin. "Sometimes I'm not that aggressive in my fights and I play more of a defensive role. I mix in the offensive with the defensive, but it's more defensive. I wanted to come out and be more aggressive and see how that went. I felt like I got to display that."
"The Monsoon" never fit as a counterstriker's nickname anyway, and Larkin's arsenal of highlight reel attacks were never meant for a passive athlete. The 27-year-old from Riverside, California has not been shy in any of his 16 professional bouts about throwing spin kicks, jumping kicks, or jumping-spinning kicks, but Larkin admits he's allowed his adversaries to lead the dance more than he should have. In November against hard-headed Chris Camozzi, Larkin dictated the pace and action of the fight with a non-stop barrage of dizzying punches, kicks, elbows, and knees for all 15 minutes.
"I felt more in control," affirms Larkin. "I felt a lot better after the fight than I did after most of my fights. I'm just ready to bring it more. I've always been ready to bring it and it happened more when I was pressured, but now I'm starting to go after it. When I'm throwing, I'm trying to finish. I don't think anybody wants to go all three rounds with me. The past guys I've been fighting have all been tough. I don't think there are any ducks in the UFC, but I have been fighting some tough opponents. They don't have a history of getting knocked out."
The unanimous decision win improved Larkin's record to 14-1 with 1 NC and netted him his first W inside the Octagon. "It felt like relief coming off my back," says Larkin, who lost an odd decision in April to Francis Carmont in his first fight since crossing over from Strikeforce. The bout saw Larkin successfully defending countless takedown attempts and outstriking Carmont nearly 3-to-1, but the judges saw it differently. "I put it behind me and I know I'll get the chance to meet him in the future. Now, it's just taking it a fight at a time and building my name and building my rank and building my position in this company."
For the man with the trademark haircut of his hometown's "Raincross" bell shaved into the side of his head, the key to climbing the rankings is to turn the mentality of being a high profile UFC fighter into an average 9-5 job. In general, Larkin is still quite young in the sport, turning pro near the end of 2009 and entering only his fourth fight at middleweight since dropping down from light heavyweight. Plus, there's always an adjustment period when joining the UFC. Even in Larkin's search for stability, he has already shown way more than a few flashes of brilliance inside the Octagon, like the standing elbows to Camozzi's dome.
"To me, the biggest thing is being comfortable," reveals Larkin. "Being comfortable in the atmosphere and just trying to be more comfortable at the weight. The disadvantage for guys fighting for the first time in the UFC are the cameras; you've got (site coordinator) Burt (Watson) running backstage yelling - it's overwhelming. The more you do it, the more comfortable you get and the more relaxed you get, then the more it becomes another day in the office. I'm becoming comfortable and realizing the routines. I'm just trying to get my cut down to where it is routine and not so hard. My last fight, by the time I got into the sauna all I had to do was cut two pounds. I was in the sauna for like 15 minutes and I was done. Other guys are there all morning. I'm getting being a middleweight down to a science."
Up next, a striker's showdown is set to hit Duluth, Georgia on January 15th in the co-main event at UFC Fight Night as Larkin takes on the heavy-handed Hawaiian Brad Tavares. The 26-year-old is enjoying a four fight win streak that has stretched across three continents and two years. Having trained with excellent stand-up coaches like the late Shawn Tompkins, John Hackleman, and, currently, Ray "Sugarfoot" Sefo, Tavares has proved to be an ultra tough competitor with an 11-2 record and more than half of those bouts inside the UFC's cage. Tavares has shown he's got great cardio and solid takedown defense to go along with his crisp, technical striking.
"He's another tough dude," tells Larkin. "A good thing, in my eyes, of going against all these tough dudes, it's just another day in the office. I hope he's been training good because I control my training regimen and I know I'll be ready, so I hope he's ready. I'm always ready for anything that comes. If it's striking, I'm all for it. At the end of the day though, if somebody is getting the better of me striking then I'm going to go for a takedown or vice versa with him. If it stays striking then it stays there. I'm open to wherever the fight goes. I know he's an all-around fighter and not a one trick pony, so I'm looking for the fight to go wherever it ends up going."
In preparation for Tavares, Larkin keeps it local with his training at Millennia MMA in Rancho Cucamonga, California. "They've just been getting my hands crisp and making me more of a complete MMA fighter," says Larkin of his coaching team, which includes founders/head instructors Betiss Mansouri and Romie Aram. In charge of Larkin's always fun to watch fists and feet is longtime striking coach Irish DeWitt. "Just cleaning me up and getting my technique down to where it needs to be. I think I have that style that can get a person interested to watch even if they're a fan of MMA or not."
On January 15th at the Arena at Gwinnett Center, a middleweight melee is set to go off in the co-main event between two of the division's fastest rising talents in Larkin and Tavares. "For the people who have watched me fight or haven't, it's always an exciting fight," states Larkin, who has already made himself 'must see' MMA TV with his explosive stand-up style. Now, with "The Monsoon" focused on being in the driver's seat for his fights, expect to see a striking storm rain or reign over the UFC's middleweight division.
Jamahal Hill Talks UFC 300 Main Event


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Last summer, I posted a recipe for mast-o-khorfeh (yogurt with purslane). Tokhm-e khorfeh (purslane seeds) are used as a topping for naan berenji.
Salade Khorfeh - Shirazi Style Purslane Salad
Serves 4-6
2 cup purslane leaves
5 Persian cucumbers or any small and seedless cucumbers, peeled and cut into small pieces
4 firm plum tomatoes or any small ripe tomatoes, cut into small pieces
1 small onion, (red or yellow), cut into small pieces, I used red onion.
1 teaspoon dried mint
1/3 cup olive oil or vegetable oil
1/3 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste
- In a large mixing bowl combine purslane, cucumber, tomatoes, onion and dried mint.
- Add the lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper and mix well. Taste, adjust the seasoning and serve.

subset: commoncrawl


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Did Apple just exile Adobe from iPhone OS 4?
Adobe has technology that packages Flash apps to run on iPhones, but new Apple license terms could block the approach for iPhone OS 4.
Apple's distaste for Adobe Systems' Flash went a step further Thursday with new iPhone programming terms that could shut down an Adobe tactic to slip its technology onto the iPhone through the back door.
Flash is a widely used foundation for applications and video-streaming sites on the Web. Apple doesn't like it and blocks it on the iPhone and iPad, though it's ubiquitous on PCs and laptops.
Adobe sidesteps this ban with its upcoming Flash Pro CS5--due to be formally announced next week--which can package Flash applications so they run as standalone programs on the iPhone. Last week, Adobe boasted that more than 100 programs in the Apple App Store use the Flash technology.
With the upcoming iPhone OS 4 announced Thursday and released to developers, it looks like the situation is changing.
John Gruber of Daring Fireball pointed out the change in the new iPhone Software Developer Kit license for iPhone OS 4. This provision was added: "Applications must be originally written in Objective-C, C, C++, or JavaScript as executed by the iPhone OS WebKit engine, and only code written in C, C++, and Objective-C may compile and directly link against the Documented APIs (e.g., Applications that link to Documented APIs through an intermediary translation or compatibility layer or tool are prohibited)."
Apple didn't respond to a request for comment about the move, and Adobe only said, "We are aware of the new SDK language and are looking into it. We continue to develop our Packager for iPhone OS technology, which we plan to debut in Flash CS5."
But Gruber couldn't figure a way out of it for Adobe and sees implications for a range of programming tools, many of them designed to let programmers target different devices with the same project. Another one is Novell's MonoTouch, which lets programmer's using Microsoft's C# programming language and associated .Net technology write for the iPhone and iPad.
Regarding MonoTouch, Mono project leader Miguel de Icaza didn't sound as concerned. "MonoTouch already has an option to compile to C + XCode, just call mtouch --xcode program.exe," he said on Twitter.
Not all were reassured, though, given that the SDK says "originally written in Objective-C, C, C++, or JavaScript," not originally written in another language and moved to a permitted language as an intermediate step. "The agreement uses the word "original" when talking about the source code. It's a gray area and may not be enforceable," tweeted Phil Nash, a programmer who wrote a Risk-like strategy game for the iPhone called vConqr.
Another multi-device developer tool company that could be affected is Unity Technologies, but Chief Executive David Helgason made this statement: "We have no indication from Apple that things are going to change. We have a great relationship with Apple and will do everything we can to comply with Apple's TOS [terms of service] (also, these are 'beta TOS,' and these easily get changed) so that we can provide uninterrupted service to our more than 120,000 users."


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Episode #2 "The Jerky Priest!"
Dr. Christine B. Whelan, is an Iowa-based social historian, professor, journalist and author. She is the author of Marry Smart: The Intelligent Woman's Guide to True Love, and Why Smart Men Marry Smart Women.
Fr. Eric Andrews CSP is the pastor of Blessed John XXIII parish, which serves as the Catholic campus ministry for the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Prior to entering the priesthood, he worked for Jim Henson and the Muppets on a variety of television productions.


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We're in a very exciting time at Motorola Mobility. Our recent devices are delivering unprecedented value to consumers and have had a great reception in the market, with Moto G officially the best selling smartphone in our history. Moto E is meeting with similar enthusiasm, selling out in India on its first day and gaining notice as a true game changer in the industry. We shipped 8.6 million devices in the second quarter, up 130% from last year's Q2 and more than 30% from last quarter. People are buzzing about the upcoming Moto 360 watch, and we have many more amazing products in development. We're excited about our new home in Chicago's Merchandise Mart, and looking forward to the close of the Lenovo acquisition, and all the possibilities that it will create for us.
Each has built strong distribution partnerships and grown our share in incredibly competitive markets around the world.
It would be easy for us to take a breath and pat ourselves on the back, but I believe this is the perfect opportunity to make some changes to our leadership that will help us to continue building on this success.
Charlie Tritschler is now Senior Vice President of Product Management, overseeing all of our product development, product marketing and ecommerce efforts. Since joining our team a little over a year ago Charlie has been one of the leading forces behind Moto G and Moto E.
As our global presence expands again, we will rely more on our regional leaders who deeply understand their local markets. As a result, regional sales heads will now sit on our senior leadership team. They include:
- Jeff Miller, Corporate Vice President, North America and Global GTM Operations
- Sergio Buniac, CVP, Latin America
- Magnus Ahlqvist, CVP, EMEA and APAC
Each has built strong distribution partnerships and grown our share in incredibly competitive markets around the world.
Our products depend on powerful and integrated marketing and branding to cut through the clutter and capture people's imaginations. Adrienne Hayes, SVP, Marketing and Communications, will lead a newly combined marketing and communications organization that will be responsible for our brand image, advertising and reputation globally. In her year with Motorola Adrienne has successfully launched Moto X, Moto G and Moto E globally, and revitalized our company's voice and social media presence.
These changes ensure that our leadership team accurately reflects our priorities and organization structure, and put us in the best possible position to continue growing our success. Congratulations to all the leaders in new roles, and my thanks to everyone who helped bring us this far.


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How To: Make a Kite
With a few basic, inexpensive materials and tools, you can engage your kids in some kite-making fun this summer.
There's nothing more fun for a child than learning to fly a kite. Who doesn't remember the thrill of watching their first kite catch a breeze and start the long climb skyward? But you can make the activity even more fulfilling—and fun—by making one yourself. Here's how:
MATERIALS AND TOOLS Available on Amazon
Two wood dowels or lightweight, straight sticks (one measuring 24″ and the other 20″)
Strong sheet of paper at least 26″ square (i.e. brown paper bag weight)
Tape and glue
Scissors and craft knife
Tape measure
Lightweight string, bakery twine or fishing line
Pencil or marker
1. Cut a notch in both ends of the short and long sticks using a craft knife. The notch should be deep enough to fit the twine. Then measure and mark the center of the 20″ stick and mark 6″ on the longer stick.
2. Make a cross using the two sticks, lining them up at the marked points. Make certain the horizontal crosspiece is at a right angle to the vertical one. Tie the sticks together by wrapping the string securely around the center points. Note: notches should all be pointing in a vertical direction.
3. Tie a small loop in the end of the string and secure it to the notch at the top of the vertical stick. Work your way around the kite, threading and securing the string through all of the notched points. In doing so, you will be creating a diamond pattern that will serve as the frame of the finished kite. Remember to keep the string taut. Repeat the process.
4. Lay the kite form on the paper and draw an outline. Remove the kite and, adding one inch to the overall pattern, cut the paper. Reposition the kite on the original outline and fold the excess over the string frame. Tape and/or glue to secure.
5. Reinforce the top and bottom tips of the kite with extra tape, then use a hole punch to create a hole in the reinforced tips. Cut a 26″ length of string and thread one end through the top hole and the other end through the bottom. Secure both ends with a knot. This vertical string serves as the kite's bridle.
7. Now tie the end of the flying string to the bridle—about 1/3 down from the top. Attach an additional length of string to the bottom hole to fasten cloth bows and ribbons for the tail. Head outside to set your homemade kite to flight!
Want more How To? Browse all projects in 30 Days of Easy Summer DIY


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In the fall of 2007, workers at the Byron nuclear power plant in Illinois were using a wire brush to clean a badly corroded steel pipe — one in a series that circulate cooling water to essential emergency equipment — when something unexpected happened: the brush poked through.
The resulting leak caused a 12-day shutdown of the two reactors for repairs.
The plant's owner, the Exelon Corporation, had long known that corrosion was thinning most of these pipes. But rather than fix them, it repeatedly lowered the minimum thickness it deemed safe. By the time the pipe broke, Exelon had declared that pipe walls just three-hundredths of an inch thick — less than one-tenth the original minimum thickness — would be good enough.
Though no radioactive material was released, safety experts say that if enough pipes had ruptured during a reactor accident, the result could easily have been a nuclear catastrophe at a plant just 100 miles west of Chicago.
Exelon's risky decisions occurred under the noses of on-site inspectors from the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission. No documented inspection of the pipes was made by anyone from the N.R.C. for at least the eight years preceding the leak, and the agency also failed to notice that Exelon kept lowering the acceptable standard, according to a subsequent investigation by the commission's inspector general.
Exelon's penalty? A reprimand for two low-level violations — a tepid response all too common at the N.R.C., said George A. Mulley Jr., a former investigator with the inspector general's office who led the Byron inquiry. "They always say, 'Oh, but nothing happened,' " Mr. Mulley said. "Well, sooner or later, our luck — you know, we're going to end up rolling craps."
Critics have long painted the commission as well-intentioned but weak and compliant, and incapable of keeping close tabs on an industry to which it remains closely tied. The concerns have greater urgency because of the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan, which many experts say they believe was caused as much by lax government oversight as by a natural disaster.
The Byron pipe leak is just one recent example of the agency's shortcomings, critics say. It has also taken nearly 30 years for the commission to get effective fireproofing installed in plants after an accident in Alabama. The N.R.C.'s decision to back down in a standoff with the operator of an Ohio plant a decade ago meant that a potentially dangerous hole went undetected for months. And the number of civil penalties paid by licensees has plummeted nearly 80 percent since the late 1990s — a reflection, critics say, of the commission's inclination to avoid ruffling the feathers of the nuclear industry and its Washington lobbyists.
Although the agency says plants are operating more safely today than they were at the dawn of the nuclear industry, when shutdowns were common, safety experts, Congressional critics and even the agency's own internal monitors say the N.R.C. is prone to dither when companies complain that its proposed actions would cost time or money. The promise of lucrative industry work after officials leave the commission probably doesn't help, critics say, pointing to dozens over the years who have taken jobs with nuclear power companies and lobbying firms.
Now, as most of the country's 104 aging reactors are applying for, and receiving, 20-year extensions from the N.R.C on their original 40-year licenses, reform advocates say a thorough review of the system is urgently needed.
The agency's shortcomings are especially vexing because Congress created it in the mid-1970s to separate the government's roles as safety regulator and promoter of nuclear energy — an inherent conflict that dogged its predecessor, the Atomic Energy Commission.
"It wasn't much of a change," said Peter A. Bradford, a former N.R.C. commissioner who now teaches at Vermont Law School. "The N.R.C. inherited the regulatory staff and adopted the rules and regulations of the A.E.C. intact."
Mr. Bradford said the nuclear industry had implicitly or explicitly supported every nomination to the commission until Gregory B. Jaczko's in 2005. Mr. Jaczko, who was elevated to chairman by President Obama in 2009, had previously worked for both Representative Edward J. Markey, the Massachusetts Democrat and longtime critic of the nuclear industry, and Senator Harry Reid, the Nevada Democrat and current Senate majority leader who sought to block a nuclear waste repository in his state.
Mr. Jaczko acknowledges that the agency needs to move faster on some safety issues. But he defends its record. "I certainly feel very strongly that this is an independent regulator that will make what it thinks are the right decisions when it comes to safety," he said. "There will be people who will agree, and some people who will disagree. That's part of the process."
For all the agency's shortcomings as a regulator, even the most vocal critics acknowledge that it should not be compared to the Minerals Management Service, the scandal-plagued agency that oversaw the oil and gas industry and was reorganized by Mr. Obama after the BP oil spill last year.
Still, David Lochbaum, a frequent critic of the N.R.C. who recently worked as a reactor technology instructor there, said the agency too often rolled the dice on safety. "The only difference between Byron and Fukushima is luck," he said.
No Rejections
In recent years, the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant in Vernon, Vt., has had several serious operational problems.
Situated on the banks of the Connecticut River, the 39-year-old Vermont Yankee, whose reactor is similar in design to the stricken plant in Japan, suffered the partial collapse of a cooling tower in 2007. In January 2010, the plant's operator, Entergy, discovered that nearby soil and groundwater had been contaminated by radioactive tritium, which had apparently leaked from underground piping. Just months before, the company assured state lawmakers that no such piping existed at the plant.
The Vermont Senate, concerned about the problems, voted overwhelmingly last year to prevent the plant from operating beyond the scheduled expiration of its license on March 21, 2012 — invoking a 2006 state law, unique to Vermont, that requires legislative approval for continued operations.
But one day before the quake and tsunami that set Japan's crisis in motion, the N.R.C. approved Vermont Yankee's bid for license renewal — just as it has for 62 other plants so far. Its fate is now the subject of a federal lawsuit.
"How does a place like that get a license renewal?" Mr. Lochbaum said. "Because they asked for one. Absent dead bodies, nothing seems to deter the N.R.C. from sustaining reactor operation."
Indeed, no renewal application has been turned down by the agency since the first one was granted in 2000, although some have been sent back for more work before winning approval.
It was not always so.
When the industry first set out in the 1980s to prove that the original 40-year licenses on its aging plants could be safely renewed for 20 years, two plants — Yankee Rowe in Massachusetts and Monticello in Minnesota — were offered as test cases. The N.R.C.'s criteria for relicensing essentially required that operators prove that they were in compliance with their current license and that they had an adequate plan to manage the aging equipment for the extra 20 years. That tripped up Yankee Rowe's bid, because inspectors looking at its current operations found serious flaws in its reactor vessel. Rather than earn a renewal, the plant shut down with eight years left on its original license.
The failure threw the industry into turmoil. In 1992, Northern States Public Power, owner of the Monticello plant, complained that the agency was examining details beyond those necessary for license renewal.
With billions of dollars of revenue and investment at stake for each plant, the N.R.C. changed the rules in 1995, scrapping the requirement that operators prove they were complying with their current license. Instead, the renewal process would focus only on the aging management plan. The agency described the change as providing a "more stable and predictable regulatory process for license renewal."
But James Riccio, a nuclear policy analyst with Greenpeace, said, "The N.R.C. rule change gutted a substantive process and replaced it with a rubber stamp. They placed industry profits ahead of public safety."
To be sure, license renewal is still arduous. According to a 2007 audit by the inspector general's office, an operator typically spends two years and up to $20 million preparing an application, and the commission on average spends two years and $4 million reviewing it.
But the audit also concluded that it was often impossible to know whether the agency had truly conducted an independent review of an application or why approval was granted. In some cases, for example, long passages in the commission's assessment of a renewal appeared to have been simply copied and pasted directly from the application.
And in a 2008 follow-up memo described to a reporter, the N.R.C.'s inspector general, Hubert T. Bell, went further, suggesting that the N.R.C. staff was unable to adequately document its reviews and may have destroyed essential records.
Asked about those issues, Mr. Jaczko said that the copying and repetition was intentional.
"We want licensees to take those programs that we find are the best practices and use those," he said. "So in many cases, those were showing up in applications and the staff was then looking at those and saying yes, those were acceptable."
As for the lack of documentation backing up each decision, "not all of that information gets incorporated into a formal docket for license renewal," Mr. Jaczko said. "We did reconfirm that there had not been any information that had been missed or any information that would change any of the conclusions in the license renewal decisions."
Deference to Industry
The N.R.C.'s slowness in addressing serious problems is another concern.
In 1975, a blaze at the Browns Ferry plant in Alabama crippled electrical wiring used to control critical cooling equipment in one of the reactor units. The incident set off alarm bells at the N.R.C., which issued new fire protection regulations in 1980.
But over the next three decades, according to two internal agency investigations, the commission approved a succession of faulty or ineffective fire barrier materials. It then dragged its feet in the face of mounting evidence that the materials, even after being installed in dozens of plants, were failing to perform as advertised.
One of the earliest materials, Mr. Mulley said, was a product called Thermo-lag, which the commission approved based on what turned out to be fraudulent lab tests submitted by an obscure company. "No inspector ever bothered to check out the lab or to question the results," said Mr. Mulley, who investigated the case for the agency.
Last year, the N.R.C. issued a 355-page report in which it suggested that the fire barrier issue had been finally sorted out, even though most plants were technically still not complying with the regulations.
The agency has little choice but to tolerate violations, said Mr. Lochbaum, who heads the Nuclear Safety Project with the Union of Concerned Scientists, an environmental and nuclear watchdog group based in Cambridge, Mass. "Otherwise, nearly all the U.S. reactors would have to shut down," he said.
Asked about the fire barrier fiasco, Mr. Jaczko said he would like the agency to put safety rules into effect more quickly. "I've certainly been pushing for some time that we do these things in a more timely manner," he said.
But the issues are complicated. "They involve very complex, technical findings, and then ultimately they involve complex plant modifications in some cases," he said.
Mr. Mulley suggested that the companies themselves played a role in delaying the rules.
"There were good fire barrier materials on the market from 3M and other companies that people knew and trusted," he said. "But these plant operators kept complaining that they were too expensive. So some company that no one has ever heard of comes along, with tests from a lab that no one has ever heard of, for a material that's cheaper than anything else on the market, and the N.R.C. says, 'Perfect! Use this!' "
The agency's deferential attitude also brought the Davis-Besse plant in Ohio to the brink of the worst American nuclear accident since the Three Mile Island meltdown of 1979.
On Aug. 3, 2001, armed with mounting evidence of potentially dangerous cracks and leaks in control nozzles that penetrate the vessel heads at most reactors, the commission asked 12 nuclear plants to conduct inspections. The inspections required a temporary but expensive shutdown, so regulators gave the plants until the end of the year to comply, and most did so.
But FirstEnergy, owner of Davis-Besse, said it would look for the cracks during its next planned refueling shutdown — on March 22 the following year. In the test of wills that followed, the agency's inspector general later concluded, it was the N.R.C. that blinked, agreeing to allow FirstEnergy to operate until mid-February.
On March 6, 2002, workers finally conducted the inspections and found that acid used in the cooling water had eaten almost completely through the lid of the reactor. The plant was closed for two years for emergency repairs, two FirstEnergy engineers were convicted of lying to investigators and the company paid more than $33.5 million in civil and criminal penalties.
"They should have just shut them down," said Mr. Mulley, who investigated the case. "But the attitude at N.R.C. was always, 'You can't shut them down. They'll fight us in court.' "
The Byron case in Illinois, while not as dangerous as Davis-Besse, was similar in that it revealed the industry's predilection for deferring maintenance until more serious safety problems developed. Indeed, since the Three Mile Island accident, at least 38 nuclear power reactors have been forced to shut down for a year or more because of an accumulation of safety problems.
Marshall Murphy, an Exelon spokesman, said the company took "good learnings" from the Byron incident and improved its procedures.
Eliot Brenner, an N.R.C. spokesman, said in an e-mail that the agency had also made several changes to its guidelines after the Byron case, including provisions that require inspectors to "tour areas that become accessible on an infrequent basis to assess the material condition and status of safety systems, structures, and components."
But Mr. Lochbaum said the slap on the wrist delivered to Exelon ensured that similar incidents would occur in the future. "There's no real regulatory discomfort imposed, so this sort of thing just continues," he said.
Agency's Gains
What frustrates some critics is that the N.R.C. has the expertise and resources — a staff of 4,000 and one of the highest densities of Ph.D.'s in government — to do a better job. Indeed, there are some examples of the commission making tough decisions.
In 2008, for example, workers at the Oconee plant in South Carolina discovered that a crucial line in the cooling system at Reactor Unit 1 was blocked by a broken gasket. The workers fixed it and the reactor was restarted.
But the two N.R.C. inspectors assigned full time to Oconee quickly began asking why Duke Energy, the operator, wasn't also inspecting corresponding valves and lines at the plant's other two reactors. Duke said the clogging was isolated and a blocked line could be bypassed in a pinch.
In February 2010, when the company finally agreed to look at the other two reactors, it discovered that the lines there had the same problem and that the bypass option would never have worked.
The commission issued a "yellow finding" to Duke, its second-highest category of safety problem. The finding, which is rarely imposed, generally brings far more N.R.C. and media scrutiny, and can have financial implications for the company on Wall Street.
N.R.C. officials said that the current oversight system, begun in 2000 and refined since then, has improved safety by focusing on the reactor systems most prone to failure — and most likely to pose a safety risk. Fewer violations are issued, but when they are, the agency uses different colors — green, white, yellow and red — to signal the severity of the problem in a public way.
"Bottom line is, we drive for long-term improvements in safety," Mr. Brenner said.
And by several measures, the N.R.C. notes, the nation's nuclear plants appear to be getting safer.
Incidents of worker radiation exposure and safety system failures are at their lowest levels in more than a decade. The number of "scrams" — which the N.R.C. defines as "the sudden shutting down of a nuclear reactor by rapid insertion of control rods, either automatically or manually by the reactor operator" — has been dropping as well.
Still, the nuclear industry is not shy about complaining, and if necessary, throwing around its weight with Congress, which approves the N.R.C.'s budget of roughly $1 billion a year.
That was borne out in June 1998, when then-Senator Pete V. Domenici, a New Mexico Republican with strong ties to the nuclear industry and chairman of the subcommittee that funded the N.R.C., threatened to slash the agency's budget.
Although the budget was not ultimately cut, Shirley Ann Jackson, then chairwoman of the commission, said in a speech to her staff that the industry had sent a clear message: "That we are inefficient, that we over-regulate, that we inspect too much, assess too much, enforce too much, take too long on licensing actions and employ an overly restrictive body of regulation."
Industry Connections
As with many regulatory agencies, the movement from N.R.C. jobs to industry jobs — and sometimes vice versa — is a recurring issue.
Many engineers and technicians, of course, join the agency directly out of school, work in the field and remain with the commission their entire careers. But for others, particularly officials at the highest levels, the commission can be a steppingstone to more lucrative work in the private sector.
That was certainly the case for one commissioner, Jeffrey S. Merrifield.
Shortly after Mr. Merrifield retired from the commission in 2007, Shaw, a nuclear services company, announced that he was taking a top executive position with the company. That stirred the suspicions of the Project on Government Oversight, a nonprofit watchdog group, which complained to the N.R.C.
Federal law prohibits government employees from taking part in matters that they know could financially benefit them or anyone with whom the employee is negotiating or seeking employment. But according to an inspector general's report on the case, Mr. Merrifield sought employment with not just Shaw but alsoGeneral Electric and Westinghouse, both nuclear reactor makers, while still voting on two issues that affected them.
The conflict-of-interest case — which also included an allegation that Mr. Merrifield failed to disclose, upon departing the government, that he accepted travel reimbursements of $3,552.47 during his job hunt — was referred by the N.R.C. to the Justice Department for possible civil action and to the United States attorney's office in Maryland for potential criminal action. Both offices declined to pursue it.
Mr. Mulley, who took part in the investigation, was outraged. "Even if the lawyers don't want to go after him, the N.R.C. could make an example of him if they wanted to," he said. "They could speak out in some way. But they don't."
In a statement last month, Mr. Merrifield said he told investigators and prosecutors that he did not believe, based on legal advice, that he had acted inappropriately, but that if he had been told a conflict existed, he would have recused himself. He added that when he was alerted to the disclosure oversight, he immediately filed the correct forms.
"Though the antinuclear community continues to try to raise these concerns," Mr. Merrifield said, "I firmly believe that throughout my time as an N.R.C. commissioner, I acted in a fair and impartial manner and in the best interest of public health and safety."
Other commissioners have also had close ties to the industry.
Environmental groups and industry monitors were angered, for example, when Mr. Obama nominated William D. Magwood, a former employee of Westinghouse Electric and more recently director of the Energy Department's nuclear expansion program, to fill a vacant seat on the commission last year.
"Given his more than a dozen years promoting nuclear power, we do not believe Mr. Magwood has the independence from the nuclear power industry, nor the security oversight background, to regulate it," said Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project on Government Oversight.
In a letter in March to the oversight project about the Merrifield case, Mr. Jaczko rejected the group's recommendation that job-seeking employees be required to recuse themselves in writing from matters affecting possible postcommission employers.
"The failure of employees to disqualify themselves has not previously been an issue at the N.R.C., and absent evidence of a wider problem, the N.R.C. does not believe that additional reporting requirements are warranted," he wrote.
Marvin S. Fertel, the president and chief executive of the Nuclear Energy Institute, the main industry lobby, took issue with the notion that the N.R.C. was captive to business interests.
"Is there too much coziness? No," Mr. Fertel said. "Do I think there's respect? Yes." That includes a willingness on the part of N.R.C. to consider the financial impact of its rules on operators, he said.
Mr. Fertel said that as the N.R.C. has expanded to deal with the flood of relicensing applications, it has increasingly hired talent from within the industry. "It's only a problem if you think getting good expertise is a problem," he said.
But Mr. Mulley argued that the prospect of one day landing a lucrative position with a private company almost certainly played a role in softening the positions of some commission employees.
"The N.R.C. is like a prep school for many of these guys, because they know they've got a good shot at landing much higher-paying work with the people they're supposed to be keeping in line," Mr. Mulley said. "They're not going to do anything to jeopardize that."
The article "Nuclear Agency is Criticized as Too Close to Its Industry" originally appeared in The New York Times.


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SA Orthopaedic Journal
versão On-line ISSN 2309-8309
versão impressa ISSN 1681-150X
SA orthop. j. vol.9 no.3 Centurion Jan. 2010
Histomorphometry and the management of metabolic bone disease
EJ Raubenheimer
MChD(UP), PhD(Medunsa), DSc(UP). Chief Specialist, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Limpopo, Medunsa Campus
Static and dynamic histomorphometry provides reproducible data on bone morphology and metabolism. The series of selected abbreviated case reports presented in this manuscript illustrates the role of histomorphometry in the diagnosis and management of metabolic bone disease states.
The application of histomorphometry to the diagnosis and management of metabolic bone diseases was covered by previous reviews.1-3 The technique involves the taking of a trans-iliac bone biopsy after labelling the skeleton with two cycles of tetracycline administration separated by at least 14 days and preparation of non-demineralised microscopic sections. Histomorphometric analyses provide quantifiable and reproducible data on the thickness of the cortical plates, volume and width of the trabecular bone, extent and rate of mineralisation of osteoid, and osteoclastic activity. The data obtained are correlated with clinical, radiological and biochemical findings. This manuscript is aimed at presenting abbreviated case reports that demonstrate the application of histomorphometry to the multi-disciplinary diagnosis and management of metabolic bone disease.
Case 1
A 13-year-old male patient presented with a history of intermittent atraumatic bone fractures for the past four years. The patient was bedridden for seven months and frequently complained about abdominal pain and diarrhoea. He received long-term prednisone and anti-inflammatory drugs for atypical juvenile dermatomyositis diagnosed at a rheumatology clinic. Urinary biochemistry, serum calcium and PTH concentrations were normal, alkaline phosphatase mildly increased and 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) was decreased. Celiac disease (a common cause for bone deficiency in patients with abdominal symptoms) was serologically excluded. Radiographs showed healing fractures of both femurs and diffuse osteopaenia. A transcortical trephine biopsy of the iliac crest was taken and processed according to the protocol for histomorphometry.1 The bone marrow showed an increase in mature eosinophils. Histomorphometry revealed severe thinning of the cortex and an increased trabecular bone volume. The latter was due to an increase in homogenous osteoid deposited by normal-appearing osteoblasts. The surface of the trabecular bone showed several empty Howship's lacunae, many of which were filled with osteoid. Eighty-seven per cent of bone surfaces were covered by osteoid (n=18.9%, SD 5%). Mineralisation fronts in the osteoid were focally broad and ill-defined. Tetracycline lines were present on 8% of bone surfaces (n=12.8%, SD2.3%) and were less than 4 microns apart (n=6.4µ, SD1µ) (Figure 1). Further examination for the cause of the bone marrow eosinophilia revealed intestinal parasitic infestation (Taenia solium). The significant decrease in cortical bone was undoubtedly the direct cause for the repeated fractures as cortical bone constitutes 85% of skeletal mass.4 Abundant osteoid was indicative of adequate osteoblastic recruitment and a lack of concomitant mineralisation activity, histomorphometric features of hypertrophic rickets. The normal PEI and homogenous nature of the osteoid argued against hypophosphatemic rickets in which the osteoid usually has a laminar appearance.5 Osteoblasts and mineralised bone had normal morphologies excluding a diagnosis of osteogenesis imperfecta.
A deficiency of calcium at osteoblastic level was the principal cause for the reduced mineralisation of the wide osteoid seams (as reflected by the reduced distance between the tetracycline lines). The reasons for the unavailability of calcium at cellular level were multi-factorial. The low 25(OH)D concentration was the result of the lack of sun exposure and contributed to a reduced uptake of dietary calcium. Long-term corticosteroid therapy inhibited intestinal mineral uptake and reduced osteoblast mediation of mineralisation. Intestinal parasitic competition for dietary mineral added another parameter to the complex pathogenesis. The lack of loading of the skeleton due to the bedridden state of the patient was furthermore a potent stimulus for mineralised bone loss, a phenomenon particularly relevant to the growing skeleton.6 As some degree of mineralisation occurred during the period of hospitalisation (reflected by the broad mineralisation front of recent onset) a dietary deficiency before admission was also suspected. Treatment of the parasitic infestation, an alternate anti-inflammatory drug with a less deleterious effect on the skeleton, cholecalciferol administration and a mineral-supplemented diet were advised. In addition, restoration of physical activity provided a holistic approach to a protracted management regimen. Eight months after initiation of therapy a follow-up biopsy revealed restoration of bone volumes and mineralisation activities.
Case 2
An 8-year-old female from Lesotho presented with diplegia, progressively decreased mobility and failure to thrive. She sustained a fracture of her femur during normal playground activities. A skeletal radiological survey showed generalised osteopaenia. All bone metabolites fell within normal age-matched limits, and urinary metabolic studies were unremarkable. A transcortical iliac crest biopsy was performed according to protocol.1 Histomorphometry showed reductions of the inner cortical plate thickness and a mean trabecular bone width (Figure 2). All bone surfaces were smooth and no active osteoblasts were noted. No recently formed woven bone was present, excluding a possibility of a late manifestation of osteogenesis imperfecta. The inner plate of the cortical bone showed 35% of the surface area occupied by empty Howship's lacunae (n=5.1%, SD 0.6%). Scattered active osteoclasts were present. Recruitment of osteoblasts was zero as all bone surfaces as well as the Howship's lacunae were devoid of osteoblasts and osteoid. Mineralisation activity as reflected by tetracycline uptake was zero. The findings were in line with those of a recent onset negative shift in bone formation with increased bone resorption. Thyroid hormone biochemistry was requested and hypothyroidism due to an endemic goitre confirmed. The increase in Howship's lacunae with active osteoclasts is proof of the selective stimulatory effect of TSH acting via receptors on osteoclasts.7 Management of the case entailed the establishment of an euthyroidal state, prescription of a mineral-supplemented diet and step-wise reintroduction of physical activity. The case was lost for follow-up.
Case 3
A 19-year-old male presented with a history of renal arterial thrombosis as a child with chronic renal failure. Skeletal deformities had become progressively worse over the last three years on renal dialysis. Six months before the bone biopsy a successful renal transplant was performed. Bone scans revealed generalised osteopaenia. Renal function tests, PTH and calcium concentrations were normal, 25(OH)D low and phosphate excretion index determined on a 24-hour urine sample within upper normal limits. The patient had received corticosteroids and cyclophosphamide since the renal transplant. An iliac crest biopsy was performed according to the protocol for histomorphometry.1 The three main types of bone disease in patients with renal failure (renal osteodystrophy) are osteitis fibrosa (high turnover hyperparathyroid bone disease), osteomalacia and adynamic bone disease.8 Only histomorphometry can readily distinguish the three types of renal osteodystrophy.9 Although the renal transplant suspended the pathogenesis of skeletal resorption in this case, elements of all three microscopic entities of renal osteodystrophy were present. A universal feature of renal failure is hyperplasia of the parathyroids and a rise in serum PTH in response to hypocalcaemia. Foci of inactive tunnelling resorption and osteitis fibrosa, important features of previous high turnover hyperparathyroid bone disease, were evident (Figure 3). Parathyroidectomy was however not indicated due to a suspension of osteoclasts activity through the successful renal transplant. The volume of osteoid was increased and mineralised cortical bone reduced in width - histomorphometric data compatible with osteomalacia. Mineralisation activity was, for practical purposes, not demonstrable. If mineralisation of the osteoid could be induced, the Howship's lacunae would mineralise and disappear.
The lack of mineralisation activity was addressed through dietary mineral and cholecalciferol supplementation, and moderate skeletal loading with supervised biokinetic activity was advised. Factors that impacted on mineral metabolism in this case included physical activity and immunosuppressive therapy as discussed in Case 1. In renal dialysis patients, the potential toxic effect of aluminium on osteoblasts should also be considered as a potential factor hampering bone mineralisation. Stains for aluminium deposits in the bone marrow were however negative. Follow-up DXA measurements after one year showed a mild increase in bone mineral density. The patient refused a follow-up bone biopsy.
Case 4
A 62-year-old male patient presented with generalised skeletal osteopaenia and diffuse bone pains. The patient gave a history of hypercalcaemia with nephrocalcinosis one year prior to the diagnosis of the squamous cell carcinoma of the bronchus for which a pneumonectomy had been performed eight months previously. Mediastinal lymph nodes showed metastatic deposits. PET scans identified several foci of FDG uptake in the axial skeleton and metastatic deposits were suspected. The patient refused postoperative chemotherapy but gave consent for a bone biopsy for histomorphometry. Upon admission for the latter, serum calcium concentrations were found to be slightly elevated and 25(OH)D decreased. Albumin and alkaline phosphatase concentrations and urinary mineral biochemistry were within normal limits. Intact s-PTH concentration was low. A transcortical iliac crest biopsy was performed according to protocol the for bone histomorphometry. 1 The biopsy showed a moderate reduction of cortical and trabecular bone. No osteoblastic activity or demonstrable osteoid were present and mineralisation activity (tetracycline lines) could therefore not be demonstrated. Noteworthy was an increase in osteoclasts with foci of active tunnelling resorption (Figure 4) despite reduced PTH concentrations. The effect of PTHrP (parathyroid hormone-related protein, produced by the metastatic deposits of the squamous cell carcinoma) on bone was suspected. This was supported by the reduced PTH- and increased calcium concentrations. Uncoupling of osteoblast and osteoclast activities distinguishes PTHrP-induced bone loss from hyperparathyroidism and is an important histomorphometric characteristic of humeral hypercalcaemia of malignancy (HHM).10 HHM was most likely the cause for the past nephrocalcinosis of the patient. As in our case, relationships are frequently demonstrable between the effect of PTHrP on bone and HHM11,12 as well as 25(OH)D and PTH concentrations. Through the release of PTHrP, cancer cells stimulate osteoclast activity both at the site of the metastatic deposit as well as at distant skeletal sites leading to localised osteopaenia (manifesting as osteolytic metastases) and distant diffuse skeletal osteopaenia as in our case.
Management of the diffuse skeletal osteopaenia under these circumstances would include reducing the bulk of malignant cells through adjuvant therapy, as well as the administration of bisphosphonates. The latter group of drugs inhibits osteoclastic bone resorption, corrects HHM and improves quality of life in terminal cancer patients by reducing bone pains and preventing the development of new osteolytic lesions.13 Recent cases presented at the 2010 annual meeting of the American Association of Orthopedic Surgery meeting in New Orleans indicate unusual fractures in patients on bisphosphonates for more than 4 years. These reports are the first on long-term bisphosphonate therapy and may introduce recommendations for periodic drug cessation in order to prevent fractures. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy with the administration of corticosteroid drugs may impact negatively on all parameters of bone metabolism and complicate the management of the skeletal deficiencies of the cancer patient. Despite progression of the malignancy, two-year follow-up bone scans indicated stabilisation of skeletal mineral density and no new skeletal metastatic deposits.
Case 5
A 6-month-old baby presented with a history of multiple fractures since birth. All biochemical parameters were within normal limits and osteogenesis imperfecta was suspected. A transcortical iliac crest biopsy was taken three days after two cycles of tetracycline administration 14 days apart. The cortical bone showed an irregular thickness varying between 60-400 µm (n=750 µm at age 6 months). The trabecular bone volume was normal. The volume of woven bone in both the cortex and trabeculae was high at the expense of lamellar bone. Osteoblasts were spindle-shaped, resembled fibroblasts and deposited bone that failed to show lamellar transformation (Figure 5). No Haversian systems were present in the cortices.
The osteocyte lacunae were large and an increased number of osteocytes per unit area was counted. The microscopic features were compatible with a diagnosis of osteogenesis imperfecta. Osteogenesis imperfecta involves all tissues with a type I collagen content and may manifest over a wide age range. The mode of inheritance, severity and clinical manifestations depends on the effect of the gene mutation on the collagen molecule.14,15 Management of children who survive is focused on all possible ways of increasing bone mass and includes bisphosphonates and hormone replacement after menopause.
Case 6
A 13-year-old patient, ill for the past three years and diagnosed with chronic lung disease, presented with fractures of the left humerus and femur. The patient had received treatment for tuberculosis in the past although all tests for the infection were negative. Bone scans showed generalised osteopaenia with increased metaphyseal uptake in several bones suggestive of leukaemia. Blood smears however showed plasmacytoid lymphocytes only. Serum and urine metabolic screening provided no additional information.
A transcortical iliac crest biopsy was performed as prescribed by the regimen for histomorphometry. Collections of uni-nuclear histiocytes with round cytoplasmic inclusions were present in the marrow spaces. Silver stains showed numerous yeast cells (Figure 6). A diagnosis of disseminated histoplasmosis was suggested and mycological confirmation recommended. The patient demised before antifungal therapy was commenced. This case illustrates an unexpected finding for a metabolic bone clinic.
Case 7 A 15-year-old male patient presented with abnormal exostosis in the external ear canal and thickening of the temporal bone with progressive deafness. All biochemical and haematological parameters were within normal limits, except for a mild increase in alkaline phosphatase. The patient received two cycles of tetracycline for dynamic bone histomorphometry1 and biopsies were taken of the iliac crest, temporal bone and an exostosis of the occiput. A fragment of each biopsy was submitted for transmission electron microscopy. The sections of the bone taken from the iliac crest showed grossly thickened cortices (1 863 µm), increased trabecular bone volumes (32.4%), cartilage inclusions (Figure 7), elevated parameters of osteoid deposition and a normal population of osteoclasts per linear bone surface. No Haversian systems were noted. Biopsies from the other sites showed thick lamellar bone with small marrow spaces. An exhaustive search with the transmission electron microscope revealed two osteoclasts, both without cytoplasmic ruffled borders. The findings were compatible with those reported for osteopetrosis.16 Osteopetrosis, from a clinical view point, is a heterogeneous group of diseases and subsequently various classification systems exist. Because bone formation is normal or even excessive and bone resorption suppressed, consensus is that the primary defect lies with the osteoclast lineage.
The complications include bone marrow displacement with pancytopaenia, pathological fractures and pressure-induced neural atrophy with, among other symptoms, neuralgic pains and conductive hearing loss. Repopulation of the bone marrow with compatible bone marrow stem cells promises a future for the management of this chronic incapacitating disorder.
The cases demonstrate the multi-factorial pathogenesis of metabolic bone diseases where co-morbidities impact on the primary bone disease state. Histomorphometry is the only modality that accounts for all variables and accurately reflects the status of bone metabolism on cellular level.
1. Raubenheimer EJ. Part I: Metabolic bone disease: histomorphometry as a diagnostic aid. SA Orthopaedic Journal 2008;7(4):19-23. [ Links ]
2. Raubenheimer EJ. Part II: Metabolic bone disease: Recent developments in the pathogenesis of rickets, osteomalacia and age-related osteoporosis. SA Orthopaedic Journal 2009; 8(1): 38-42. [ Links ]
3. Raubenheimer EJ. Part III: Metabolic bone disease: Recent developments in the pathogenesis of endocrine-, drug-, genetic-, renal-, HIV-, and malignancy- induced bone disease. SA Orthopaedic Journal 2009; 8(3): 18-23. [ Links ]
4. Shao YY,Wang L, Ballock RT. Thyroid hormone and the growth plate. Rev Endocr Metab Disord 2005; 7(4):265-71. [ Links ]
5. Jowsey J. Metabolic Diseases of Bone. Philadelphia: W B Saunders Company; 1977:172-191. [ Links ]
6. Smith R, Wordsworth PW. Clinical and Biochemical Disorders of the Skeleton. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005; 154. [ Links ]
7. Galliford TM, Murphey E,Williams AJ, Bassett JH,Williams GR. Effects of thyroid status on bone metabolism: a primary role for thyroid stimulating hormone or thyroid hormone? Minerva Endocrinol 2005;30(4):237-46. [ Links ]
8. Goodman WG, Coburn JW, Slatopolsky E. Renal osteodystrophy in adults and children. In: Favus M (ed.) Primer on the metabolic bone disease and disorders of mineral metabolism, 4th edn. (1999). Philadelphia, Lippincott, Williams and Wilkens, 347-63. [ Links ]
9. Dahl E, Nordal KP, Halse J. Chronic renal failure: diagnostic measures before parathyroidectomy. Scan J Urol Nephrol 1994;28:291-4. [ Links ]
10. Roberts MM, Stewart AF. Humeral hypercalcemia of malignancy. In: Favus M (ed.) Primer on the metabolic bone disease and disorders of mineral metabolism, 4th edn (1999). Philadelphia, Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins, 203-7. [ Links ]
11. Bundred NJ, Radcliffe WA,Walker RA et al. Parathyroid hormone-related protein and hypercalcemia in breast cancer. Br Med J 1991;303:1506-9. [ Links ]
12. Kohno N, Kitazawa SW, Fukase M, et al. The expression of parathyroid hormone-related protein in human breast cancer with skeletal metastases. Surg Today 1994;24:215-20. [ Links ]
13. Greenspan SL, Bhattacharya RK, Sereika SM, Brufsky A, Vogel VG. Prevention of bone loss in survivors of breast cancer: A randomized, double- blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2007;92(1)131-6. [ Links ]
14. Spranger J, Cremin B, Beighton P. Osteogenis imperfecta congenital. Features and prognosis of a heterogenous condition. Pediatr Radiol 1982;12:21-7. [ Links ]
15. Smith R, Wordsworth PW. Clinical and Biochemical Disorders of the Skeleton. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2005:265-289. [ Links ]
16. Helfrich MH, Aronson DC, Everts V et al. Morphological features of bone in osteopetrosis. Bone 1991;12:411-19. [ Links ]
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78 Magickal Tools: Bringing the Magick of Tarot to your Pagan Path
Tarot is more than a tool of divination; tarot is a book of spiritual wisdom and a set of magickal tools. Explore new ways to use tarot in ritual, magick, meditation, self-discovery and attunement.
Changing Perspectives with the Hanged Man
When things aren't going your way you can use tarot magick in meditation to help find new perspectives and solutions.
A good card to work with is the Hanged Man.
Did you know that the Hanged Man is the card of yoga? This card carries the energy of meditation and yogic practice.
I have a personal association for the Hanged Man as well; I see it as the card of the 12 Step Program. It is, after all, card 12 of the Major Arcana. The message of the Hanged Man matches the 12 Step Prayer: Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.
Sometimes we need to reframe events or situations in order to better handle them. We need to accept things that are hard to accept and find ways around obstacles. This isn't an easy process but the Hanged Man is the perfect card to help.
To start, create sacred space appropriate for meditation. Use candles, stones and herbs that aid in meditation.
If you can, do some yoga in preparation for your meditation. You may have music in the background if you like, or do some drumming or chanting to help prepare for your meditative journey.
Do some meditative breathing and grounding.
Once you are ready, make a list (either in your mind or by writing) of the things that you are having a hard time accepting, and/or the feelings or perspectives that are holding you back. What are the things in your life that need solutions?
Now take the Hanged Man and spend some time with this card. Look at it, hold it to your chakras and breathe in its energy.
See that the Hanged Man is held upside down in an uncomfortable position. He is calm within that position. Through it he has found enlightenment.
Meditate for a few moments on the concept of finding wisdom and enlightenment as a result of being in a bad position. Think about how this can relate to your own situation.
Now see your situation through the Hanged Man's eyes. Everything looks different when you see it upside down. When you look at your problems differently, what do you see? When you get outside of your usual way of viewing your situation, what other perspectives and solutions can you find?
Use the energy of the Hanged Man to help guide you. You may even do a visualization in which you approach him and ask him for advice. Of course, to talk with him face-to-face you will need to be upside down as well!
Open your mind to possibilities, and see what comes to you. You might want to write down your thoughts, even the ones that don't make sense.
The powers that you invoke in creating sacred space will combine with your own creative and meditative visualization process and the energy of the Hanged Man to help you gain new perspectives and solutions.
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The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, meeting at its 13th Extra-Ordinary Session, held in Banjul, The Gambia, from 19 to 25 February 2013;
Recalling its mandate to promote human and peoples' rights under the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (the African Charter);
Recalling further Article 13(1) of the African Charter which stipulates that "every citizen shall have the right to participate freely in the government of his country, either directly or through freely chosen representatives in accordance with the provisions of the law;"
Considering the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance which emphasizes the importance of entrenching in the Continent, a political culture of change of power based on the holding of regular, free, fair and transparent elections conducted by competent, independent and impartial national electoral bodies;
Bearing in mind its previous Resolutions on the Electoral Process and Participatory Governance in Africa;
Emphasizing the importance of peaceful, free, fair and transparent elections and referenda, in addition to full respect of the results, to the maintenance of peace and security in the region;
Noting that elections will be held in the Republic of Kenya, the Republic of Mali and the Republic of Tunisia, and also that a referendum on the constitution will be held in the Republic of Zimbabwe in 2013;
Deeply concerned by the serious deterioration of the human rights situation in certain African countries before, during, and after the election periods and the irregularities surrounding electoral processes that can lead to the breakdown of democracy;
Calls upon State Parties to the African Charter holding elections in 2013 to:
Respect their obligations under the African Charter, in addition to other regional and international human rights conventions, and take all necessary measures to preserve and protect the credibility of the electoral process;
Ensure that all parties participating in the elections, in particular the opposition parties, are allowed to conduct their campaign freely;
Ensure that citizens exercise their right to vote in a peaceful environment free of intimidation and violence;
Urge political parties to ensure that their supporters do not engage in, or incite, acts of violence either before, during or after the elections;
Allow the participation of election observers to observe the entire electoral process;
Respect the independence of the institution responsible for the management of elections and provide sufficient resources to strengthen them;
Take all measures to prevent, investigate and prosecute human rights violations which occur during the election period, and provide adequate redress to victims.
Reiterates its appeal to all State Parties who have not done so, to ratify the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance and to ensure its effective implementation without delay.
Done in Banjul, The Gambia, 25 February 2013


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Including why he took on the role, marketing BlackBerry 10 and more!
Research In Motion's new Chief Marketing Officer has only been on the job for four weeks, but he has hit the ground running. As we learned from RIM's CEO Thorsten Heins, Frank Boulben has already presented his marketing plan for BlackBerry 10 to management and the board and everybody is excited for it.
RIM has been without a CMO for a long time now, and even when the position was filled BlackBerry's marketing has been one of those areas that the CrackBerry community has been highly critical of over the years. A new CMO with energy and smart ideas is something BlackBerry has been desperately in need of. Sitting down with Frank, it's clear that he gets it. I walked away from this interview feeling much more confident that RIM will really be able to not only bring a compelling product to market in BlackBerry 10, but also market it in such a way that people will want it.
I probably should have stopped at 10 questions in honor of BlackBerry 10, but my list of questions was long and I managed to work in 12 before Heins dropped by to join the discussion (if you missed that editorial, read it here). Big thanks to Frank for sitting down with CrackBerry for this!
Q1. Some would say you've probably accepted what currently is the toughest job in tech today... the CMO position at RIM. Why did you take on the challenge?
Frank: First because I believe we have all that is needed to be successful.
Before I took the role obviously I did my own personal due diligence. I reached out to the carrier community on three continents. I reached out to the developer community. Both gave me the same very positive feedback.
The wireless carriers absolutely want RIM to be successful. They want more diversity in terms of ecosystems. They have a huge install base with us and they want to and continue and upgrade that install base. And we have a longstanding relationship with them, so they want that to continue. So on the carrier side -- developed markets, emerging markets -- there is very strong backing, and as you know having the carrier support is absolutely critical for a successful go to market.
And on the other side, the developers were extremely positive about the platform. We have 78 million users. They expect those users over time to be on BlackBerry 10. The developers are really excited for what the platform is offering - if you want to develop rich applications you can use Cascades and C++ SDK. If you're more of the HTML 5 school you also have an SDK there that is leading edge. And if you don't want to dedicate more than a couple of days to port an app to BlackBerry 10, you can port your Android apps and use the Android runtime environment. And if you combine that with billing relations we have with carriers, it's an attractive platform for developers. The BlackBerry Jam tour has been very successful, we're quote "sold out everywhere" and each time it generates a lot of excitement.
That's a long answer, but it was the first element for me to be sure the partners were supportive of BlackBerry. So the carriers were. The developers were.
Then when I look at the company, the brand is still extremely strong globally. We have a weakness in the US right now, but when I look at it globally, we are #1 in South America, we are #1 in South Africa, in Nigeria, in the Middle East and some Asian countries. We are still in a solid position in Europe, so overall the brand is in a very good position, and it's an iconic brand. We have growth everywhere in volume, except in North America, so there is still a lot of attraction for the brand and the products.
The company is financially healthy. We have a strong cash position. No debt. We are still cash flow positive. We are engaging in a cost reduction program that will increase our financial flexibility as we transition into BlackBerry 10.
And for myself, under NDA, I saw demos and mockups of BlackBerry 10 devices so I could judge by myself and I really think BlackBerry 10 is the step change in the smartphone user experience. We've been living now for five years in a paradigm that is the in and out paradigm. You have a page with icons, you click on one icon to get into an app, and then the only way to exit is to press the home button and then you go into another app. That paradigm was great -- it's still great -- but what we are going to introduce is the next generation of user experience on a smartphone where you are always in. You don't need to get out of an app to get into another one. It's a seamless and continuous flow with one's gesture. That will be a very powerful experience. When our fans first, and then customers and prospects see it, they realize how powerful it is.
That's a long answer to your question, but carriers and developers being supportive, a great brand, a strong and healthy financial position and a great product experience to come. And in terms of employees and management, I think we have lots of talent in RIM. We need to make sure we're all focused on the same objective, but that was also very comforting for me. I met many people before I joined... I must have had almost a dozen meetings.
I was very interested in the roll, and now having been four weeks in the company I have had no bad surprises whatsoever, and I'm still confident we are on the right strategy and BlackBerry 10 will be the source for long term success and value creation for our shareholders who are screaming for it.
Q2. What are the first things for you to tackle as CMO?
Frank: The first big thing is to get the marketing plan for the introduction of BlackBerry 10 right. So that's the absolute priority, and I've assembled a team that is composed of functional leads in different areas of marketing, and also I've associated to it all of the country and region marketing leads, and we work as one unified team.
So what I want to do with BB10 is get away from the fragmentation we have today in the management of the brand and our marketing activities so that we can fully leverage our scale and scope globally with the introduction of BB10. So preparing all of the elements of that marketing plan, that is the absolute #1 priority.
At the same time, I'm in building a world-class marketing team. I think we have many talents inside the company, but we are going to have an organization that operates differently and is organized differently (than in the past). So that's my second big task.
The third is to continue to support the growth of BlackBerry 7. We have a portfolio in the market. There are many markets where we have very strong growth, so we need to continue and sustain BB7.
Q3. On that note, do you think there may be any confusion among consumers as BlackBerry 10 marketing ramps up and BlackBerry 7 marketing continues?
Frank: I don't think there will be any confusion as BlackBerry 10 will enter the market at the high end of the smartphone category. And today the vast majority of the BlackBerry 7 portfolio is positioned at the entry segment and mid-range segment.
Q4. One of the areas where the CrackBerry community has been most critical of BlackBerry over the years is in their marketing. Looking back, what kind of scorecard grade would you give them on their efforts?
Frank: First of all, I'm not devoting much time to do a post-mortem of campaigns over the last couple of years in different countries. My high level view on that is that the quality was uneven. There was a lot of fragmentation. And that's it. I'm not going into the specifics of what was the return on a particular campaign, or how it was perceived, etcetera.
I'm focused on moving forward to have a unified approach. The same creative framework across countries will be used for BlackBerry 10 so you won't see that fragmentation again, so hopefully the quality and creative thought will be there and we'll delight our fans.
Q5. Leading up to BlackBerry 10, who do you feel it's most important to market to right now? Is it the carriers? Is it the end consumers to build back some brand equity, enterprises?
Frank: You market first to the carriers, as the carriers have to test the devices and they have to prepare their own marketing activities. We are speaking to carriers now.
What we want to do immediately after that is to engage directly with the end user, both consumer and enterprise, through different means. With enterprise we can have more direct contact through our sales force.
For consumer the primary audience is our existing users -- we have 78 million BlackBerry users -- so informing them of what is coming in BlackBerry 10, giving them sneak previews of the user experience before the device is actually available will be important. Most of the people buying BlackBerry 10 devices already own a smartphone today and so we will also use mobile marketing quite a lot, to target them on their smartphone. And we know through the surveys we've done that today we have many smartphone users who are not satisfied with their current experience and who will want to migrate to BlackBerry.
Q6. I hear you also have a residence in New York. If you walk into a Verizon store these days it can be difficult to find a BlackBerry. Are you confident we will see US carrier support with launch of BB10?
Frank: First of all, let's address your example of Verizon. Yesterday we've announced a new device with Verizon, and so there is support from the carrier community. I cannot be specific, but we are very engaged with US carriers for the launch of BB10.
And by the way, it's the same in every country. I couldn't name one country where we have carriers telling us not interested. So that's a clear sign of confidence.
And for the BlackBerry 10 introduction, we'll be working with the carriers on a comprehensive program -- joint marketing effort, below the line effort -- so materials for point of sales, upgrade programs, retention programs and etcetera. So that will be a comprehensive effort, for consumer and enterprise.
Q7. So that leads me to my next question, and it's one our community has been asking a lot... if I own a BlackBerry Smartphone today, and I know I'm going to have to wait until 2013 until I can buy a BlackBerry 10 phone, are there going to be incentive programs or trade up programs to make me hold onto my BlackBerry the next six months?
Frank: That's a case-by-case discussion with each and every carrier, so I cannot comment on all of them. [ laughs from both of us ]
Q8. How do we win back the mind share in the US?
Frank: When I look at our US customer base, we still have a very strong fan base across segments -- business people, artists, young people -- we're growing in the pre-paid market as we speak. So it's not like we're not present in the US market. We still have that strong base. The key for us, as soon possible, will be to put that new user experience in their hands, and let them do the marketing so to speak. That will amplify it. That's the way to approach it.
Q9. I'm not sure you're going to have an answer for this one but I'm curious... BlackBerry 10. One of the questions I get asked a lot is Why BlackBerry 10 and what happened to 8 and 9? Then I have to explain to them about BlackBerry and QNX and BBX was the coming together of both names and then there was trademark issue so they couldn't use BBX, so now it's BlackBerry 10. But that's not much of a marketing message. So why BlackBerry 10?
Frank: [ both of us laughing a bit at my run on question as Frank begins to answer ] So I was not in the company so don't know the exact genesis but my interpretation simply is that we were single digit before -- BlackBerry 5, 6, 7 -- and given that it's a change of generation that we go double digits.
Kevin: I like that. So my thoughts were that it's going to get a 10 / 10 on all the reviews.
Frank: Exactly! [ Laughter ]
Kevin: Or I have heard the line in the past couple of weeks that once BlackBerry 10 is to the market it's a platform to build on for the next 10 years.
Frank: Yep, and from a marketing standpoint, 10 is a great number.
Q10. On the topic of loyalty. I'm always a BlackBerry fan. Some days that's easier than others, but I've always maintained my loyalty and want to see BlackBerry succeed. On the other hand, we have seen a lot of users leave BlackBerry (and I get mad that they're not as loyal as me). So what are people loyal to? Is it BlackBerry the brand? Is it the product? Is it the company? Does having a company name like Research In Motion that is separate from the brand, BlackBerry, make people less loyal than say a company like Apple where the brand and company are one and the same? I know that's not a great question... errr.. so how do you build loyalty long term?
Frank: We want to build loyalty around the BlackBerry brand. The mega brand, to use in advertising jargon, is BlackBerry and in all of our marketing activities moving forward you will see the BlackBerry name taking an even more central position than it has in the past in all aspects of marketing and naming.
But fundamentally to your question, the brand is what it does. A brand is what people say when you are not in the room. And that is formed by the user experience. BlackBerry is a great brand because it delivers to you and me a great experience for what we expect from a smartphone. If we continue to deliver that, the brand will continue to be vibrant.
Q11. Is there anything you want to tell our audience of long time BlackBerry fans who are frustrated right now to keep holding on?
Frank: First of all, I want to thank them for being loyal BlackBerry fans and users. The thing I would like to tell them first is that we're putting all of our efforts into developing this next-generation smartphone experience I was talking about so we can delight them once again.
What I intend to do, as soon as practical and possible, is to show them what the experience will be about. Even before the device is available, so that they can realize by themselves that we are really introducing a step change in the smartphone market. So that will be done through digital assets, videos demonstrating what this seamlessness, always-in paradigm will be.
Q12. Last question. If your marketing efforts are successful, a year from now, when people hear the name BlackBerry or see a BlackBerry phone, what do you want people to think? What values do you want the brand to instill in you? I guess what I'm really asking here is... What does BlackBerry mean to you?
Frank: It helps me to get things done, better, faster than any other smartphone.
Read more
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UK fans go hands on with BlackBerry 10 - The BlackBerry Elite Program gets an explosive start
Yesterday I was lucky enough to be invited to the BlackBerry Elite Program event that took place at RIM's UK HQ in Slough. The Elite Program has been set up to identify and empower the most passionate people in the BlackBerry community with information and opportunities for them to stay connected with BlackBerry. I'm not in the program myself but I suppose I got special treatment as we...
RIM still pushing BlackBerry 7 as two new promo videos hit the web
We may be getting closer and closer to the BlackBerry 10 launch event on January 30th but that isn't stopping RIM from continuing to promote BlackBerry 7. Over on their YouTube channel they have released a couple of new promo videos, each one focusing on a specific feature of BB7. BlackBerry Tag and Wikitude are featured once again and this clearly goes to show that although many...
RIM CMO Frank Boulben confirms there will be at least six BlackBerry 10 devices in 2013
While we've been concentrating on both the full-touch BlackBerry Z10 (L-Series) and the full QWERTY device (N-Series) we forget that it's been said all along that there will be more BlackBerry 10 devices available after the initial launch. RIM CMO Frank Boulben confirmed in an interview with FierceWireless that RIM does intend to release as least six BlackBerry 10 devices over the...


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My problem is this. I have my language lessons and my music in different folders on an external hard drive. For some reason my libraries got mucked up (by opening iTunes when the hard drive wasn't connected). So I need to set up my libraries again.
What I want to do is set up two separate libraries: Language Lessons and Music. I know this is possible because I've done it, and set the location to the respective folders. The problem is that the new libraries I set up are empty -- there are no songs or lessons in the playlist! So how do I get iTunes to populate my playlists? I've found two alternatives but neither is satisfactory:
Click on each individual song/lesson in the folder to play it, and iTunes then lists it in the playlist. This is ridiculous as I have about 4,000 songs.
Physically drag the folder containing the Songs or Language lessons onto the window. This copies all the songs in the folder into that playlist. The problem is that I don't want it to copy my 4,000 songs into a new folder (which exceeds the space limit on the hard disc drive), I just want iTunes to populate each library with the songs in the existing folder.
I'm sure this is a dumb newbie kind of question, but there is nothing in the Mac documentation that even suggests how this can be done.
Using MacBook Pro, MacOS 10.6.8.


text:
Sutton Hoo
Our editors will review what you've submitted and determine whether to revise the article.
- Related Topics:
- archaeology
- cenotaph
- Related Places:
- United Kingdom
- England
- Suffolk
Sutton Hoo, estate near Woodbridge, Suffolk, England, that is the site of an early medieval burial ground that includes the grave or cenotaph of an Anglo-Saxon king. The burial, one of the richest Germanic burials found in Europe, contained a ship fully equipped for the afterlife (but with no body) and threw light on the wealth and contacts of early Anglo-Saxon kings; its discovery, in 1939, was unusual because ship burial was rare in England.
The impression of the rotted-away ship's timbers in the trench of sand 25 feet (7.6 meters) deep and the remaining rivets showed the ship to have been a mastless clinker-built rowboat more than 80 feet (27 meters) long. The dating of coins found at the site and the presence of both Christian and pagan features suggest that it may have been the cenotaph of Raedwald (died 624/625), an East Anglian king who had converted to Christianity and subsequently returned to paganism. The identity of the king is still in question, however, and another candidate is Aethelhere who died in 654 fighting for Penda, pagan king of Mercia, at Winwaed. The rite of ship burial and certain items in the grave have parallels in Sweden and suggest a hitherto unsuspected Swedish origin for the East Anglian royal dynasty.
In the burial site there were 41 items of solid gold, now housed in the British Museum, along with a quantity of imported silverware. One great silver dish bears the control stamp of the Byzantine emperor Anastasius I (491–518). In addition, silver bowls, cups, and spoons inscribed in Greek and a bronze bowl from the Middle East show the range of the kingdom's contacts. The royal tomb and its grave goods throw much light on the civilization depicted by Beowulf.


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Last Wednesday saw HTML5Doctor win a Critters award for best blog, courtesy of Ubelly.
Jeremy Keith snapped five doctors together at our booth at the Web Directions/ @media conference. Left to right you can see Mike Robinson, Jack Osborne, Rich Clark and Remy Sharp with Bruce in the foreground. Missing are Tom Leadbetter, Oli Studholme and Brandan Lennox.
We also got a nice pic with two of the Ubelly team—back-end specialist Dr Andrew Spooner and Ms Alex Ball.
Thanks Ubelly! And, from Bruce, thanks to Opera for letting me sneak some doctoring in during work time.
If you have an award or large quantities of banknotes to give us, just get in touch.